Work Place Harassment (ethnic minority)

stever

New Member
Jurisdiction
California
I work for a tech a very large global tech company where the HR takes pride in work/life balance and protecting employees from bullies. Yet, i find myself in middle of a bad situation and not able to gather the courage to approach the HR with issue. My fear is, "what if" they brand me as cry-baby. This has been going on for many years. I am a top performer as is evident by the deliverables. My year-end reviews for recent years have been graded as "over achiever". I have never been promoted, and although I am not complaining about zero-recognition, it is obviously related to the fact that my manager hates me. I have started to document the incidents about 5 years back. Here are my questions,

i) The evidence is in emails, in multiple pages, but it cannot be easily interpreted unless HR devotes the time to analyze. Some severe situations, like threatening body-language, are noted with date/time but not under camera as evidence. Can they be argued as "fake"? How is 'intimidation', 'anger' etc. addressed? How do you prove something that has no other witness.

ii) I have recorded phone conversations, some are legally recorded team meetings and other were secretly recorded by me. In those recordings i have my manager cussing with profanity while talking about customers, partners and our products. What if I just email those clips anonymously? This way i do not meddle with HR. I dont want to do this, as he might get fired, but I just want him to treat me like others.

I am from minority race and over 50. While he has not said anything direct to me on my race, but he has often made fun of my food. One occasion, while on business trip dinner, he slipped piece of steak on my plate and asked me to eat with words "prove to me that you are not religious". This happened 6 years back. Company receipts uploaded in system will show time/place/items. But how can one prove beyond doubt?

This has been going on for many many years. Only reason I am still at this company is because, I work for a good company, with good future and I like what i do. I am good at what i do and rencetly nominated for award. My manager does not like me from day 1. I can easily prove that he invited everyone in meetings except me but most other 'hatred' is in form of constant minor slights that add up to very toxic environment.

Please help. If there is a lawyer here experienced in such situation, i will consider preparing legally as i approach HR.
 
In CA and you recorded a private conversation without the other person knowing.... Interesting.. So.... you want him/her to obey the laws in your employment. Yet, you don't want to obey the laws yourself. Doesn't sound like you have any proof of them doing anything wrong except what you are stating. If your boss doesn't like you from day 1 why are you still employed? They haven't fired you. Why have you stayed there if things are bad? Maybe time to move on to another place of employment. I hope you don't get caught with that illegal recording....
 
Please help. If there is a lawyer here experienced in such situation, i will consider preparing legally as i approach HR.

Your sketchy, subjective, and illegal evidence is only going to get you fired. Recording meetings might be legal but it would still get you fired if know.

If the environment is so toxic you should have found yourself employment elsewhere a long time ago.

My advice: Suck it up or find yourself another job.
 
I work for a tech a very large global tech company where the HR takes pride in work/life balance and protecting employees from bullies. Yet, i find myself in middle of a bad situation and not able to gather the courage to approach the HR with issue. My fear is, "what if" they brand me as cry-baby. This has been going on for many years. I am a top performer as is evident by the deliverables. My year-end reviews for recent years have been graded as "over achiever". I have never been promoted, and although I am not complaining about zero-recognition, it is obviously related to the fact that my manager hates me. I have started to document the incidents about 5 years back. Here are my questions,

i) The evidence is in emails, in multiple pages, but it cannot be easily interpreted unless HR devotes the time to analyze. Some severe situations, like threatening body-language, are noted with date/time but not under camera as evidence. Can they be argued as "fake"? How is 'intimidation', 'anger' etc. addressed? How do you prove something that has no other witness.

ii) I have recorded phone conversations, some are legally recorded team meetings and other were secretly recorded by me. In those recordings i have my manager cussing with profanity while talking about customers, partners and our products. What if I just email those clips anonymously? This way i do not meddle with HR. I dont want to do this, as he might get fired, but I just want him to treat me like others.

I am from minority race and over 50. While he has not said anything direct to me on my race, but he has often made fun of my food. One occasion, while on business trip dinner, he slipped piece of steak on my plate and asked me to eat with words "prove to me that you are not religious". This happened 6 years back. Company receipts uploaded in system will show time/place/items. But how can one prove beyond doubt?

This has been going on for many many years. Only reason I am still at this company is because, I work for a good company, with good future and I like what i do. I am good at what i do and rencetly nominated for award. My manager does not like me from day 1. I can easily prove that he invited everyone in meetings except me but most other 'hatred' is in form of constant minor slights that add up to very toxic environment.

Please help. If there is a lawyer here experienced in such situation, i will consider preparing legally as i approach HR.

If you've been documenting every perceived slight from this boss, it sounds like you're the one who doesn't like them. If you've been documenting things for five years and you still have nothing concrete and indisputable to take to HR, maybe you're just being oversensitive and looking for the slightest things to take offense at.
 
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